


End Game

by orphan_account, TylahJayne



Series: the trials and tribulations of david elizabeth lee strider [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Abusive Bro, Anxiety, Depression, Mentions of past abuse, Multi, Past Abuse, Post-Sburb/Sgrub, Trans Dave, Trans Rose
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-05-02
Packaged: 2018-05-31 03:05:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6452932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TylahJayne/pseuds/TylahJayne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Your name is Dave Strider and you don’t know what the universe wants from you</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the arrival

Your name is Dave Strider and you don’t know what the universe wants from you.

 

You have just spent three years of your life playing a world ending game, and now you’re back where you started, and you have no idea how to handle it. You were thirteen when you died and ascended to god tier. You were thirteen when you watched yourself die over and over. You were thirteen when you started to manipulate time to do your bidding, and you don’t know if you regret that choice, because three years later you are back where you started, but you don’t feel older or wiser.

You are back on top of your apartment building, there is no sign of the past three years, apart from the clothes on your back and the memories in your head. You are unsure of what to do now. You feel thirteen again, scared of everything and no idea of to fix it. You think that if you pretended you could go back to how things were before, but you know that’s wrong. You know that Bro isn’t a good person and that the way he treats you is wrong, and for a single moment you curse your friends for ever bringing it to your attention that your life isn’t actually what you thought it is.

Your disregard the thought almost immediately, as you know it’s foolish. You hear a footstep behind you, and you tense. Years of constant training still humming under the surface, ready to surface at a moment’s notice. He lunges, and in that instant you know that he doesn’t remember anything, then again, why would he. Ripping your sword out of your sylladex, you meet his sword blow for blow, parrying it away and slowly advancing on him. You have three years of practice that he doesn’t have. You have fought for your life, you won the game. You are better than him, and it shows in the fight.

You almost laugh at the surprise on his face, and you would have, if you weren’t so focused on attacking. You pushed him back, to near the edge of the roof. You are stronger than he will ever be, you have to remind yourself. You can feel the tears building up behind your eyes, as you end the fight with a shallow cut to his cheek. You’ve won.

You draw your sword back into your sylladex, and leave the bastard on the roof. You shudder as you once again walk down the stairs he had pushed you down so many times. You ignore the way your heart aches, and continue along into the apartment. You won’t stay here anymore. Never again will you allow someone to hurt you like this. You ignored the memories as they surfaced slowly, one by one. You ignore the blood stains in the carpet and on the walls, and simply collect a few things to take with you. You couldn’t take many things, but what you did had use. You had no use for money, or anything of worth you could have taken from him, you already had more money than anyone on the planet.

The walk out of the building was hard, at some point, your conscious faded into the background and you were reduced to your normal state, nothing but an empty shell. You found yourself in a park when you regained awareness. You pulled out your camera, and snapped a quick shot of the empty swings. There had always been something sinister about being in an empty park after dark, like there was a secret hidden deep underneath the surface, just waiting for someone to dig it up, and uncover it.

You want to laugh at the metaphor, since it seems so relevant, but you cannot find the energy to do so, instead you draw out your laptop, and sit it on the table in front of you. According to it, it is still John's birthday, on the thirteenth of April, in two thousand and nine. You barely contain a sob, you’ve lost three years of your life, the three years you felt important, like you were needed. Now you’re back to square one.

The one lucky thing, is that apparently your laptop has Wi-Fi, you check the Wi-Fi outlets name, and roll your eyes. It’s called ‘Skianet’ and has full bars. You sigh, but boot up pesterchum anyways. You have messages from all of your friends, but the trolls, and your ectobiological counterparts handles are missing.

ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

EB: hey dave!  
EB: can you believe this? we’re here  
EB: we’re really really here  
EB: i think i almost shed a tear when i saw my dad again  
EB: only the manliest tear of course  
EB: i actually almost suggested that he make a cake to celebrate  
EB: before i remembered he already made a cake for my birthday  
EB: ...i guess i didn’t realize how much i missed him until i saw him again.  
EB: but that doesn’t matter now, right?  
EB: cause we’re all back now  
EB: enough about me. how’s bro doing?  
EB: you guys throw swords at each other like weirdos yet?  
EB: ...dave?  
EB: are you there?  
EB: well, i’ll talk to you later then. you’re probably busy enjoying your newfound youth or whatever.  
EB: bye! 

ectoBiologist [EB] ceased pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

   
As much as you love John, he can be such an ass sometimes. You think that he forgets that other people have problems a lot of the time, a side effect from his conservative suburban upbringing. You don't really want to answer him right now, because you don't want to have to deal with him complaining about cakes and totally disregarding the fact that you are not ok. You roll your eyes and move onto the next message  
  


tentacleTherapist [TT] began pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

TT: You know, it’s unexpected.  
TT: That I’m oddly glad to be here again with my mother.  
TT: I’m happy for all of us, really. We did it. We won.  
TT: The zenith of our bleak existences, or some poetic bullshit like that.  
TT: But it doesn’t feel that way, does it?  
TT: Enough of that. How are you, my dearest brother?  
TT: Any life-threatening nonsensical plush puppet rump appear yet?  
TT: Oh, you must be strifing with your brother already.  
TT: I wish you the best of luck.  
TT: Do message me when you’ve ceased your testosterone fueled fisticuffs.  


tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

You sigh, and decide to read Jade's messages before responding to Rose.  


gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

GG: bec’s here!!! GG: i can hear the birds again  
GG: it’s just so peaceful  
GG: i was worried my plants might die, but they’re still here too!!  
GG: everything is just how it should be, i guess.  
GG: at least one good thing came out of that shitty game after all huh?  
GG: man i totally forgot how much i love my island!!  
GG: everything is where i left it and it’s just ahhh!!  
GG: we won dave!!!!!  
GG: we did it!!!!!!  
GG: im so happy, there’s no more baddies chasing us and we’re safe.  
GG: dave???  
GG: oh you must be busy  
GG: message me back when you can!  


gardenGnostic [GG] ceased pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

You wanted to scream, everyone else is so happy and you’re stuck with him in that goddamn house and you’ve got nowhere to go. Maybe if you’re lucky you could hitch hike down to where ever the hell Rose lives and set yourself up there.

Maybe you could actually escape him and try to get back all of the life you lost. You snap back to reality. You no longer look sixteen, you’re back to your thirteen year old body, you’re just entering the stage where your chest is more predominant than it used to be, and you wanted to cry because you’ve gone backwards in progress. Your dreamself was everything you’d ever wanted, and yet again, you’re back to square one.

tentacleTherapist [TT] began pestering  turntechGodhead [TG] 

TG: fuck you and fuck your optimism  
TG: shove it right up your shapely ass  
TT: Ah, wonderful to see you too, Dave.  
TT: Glad you choose to embrace me with such open and gentle, manly arms.  
TT: Now tell me, what warrants these kind messages that somehow simultaneously supply as backhanded compliments?  
TG: have you even checked downstairs yet you fucker.  
TG: how do you not see these problems  
TG: theres so many theyre falling straight out of my ass  
TG: i cannot hold all of these problems  
TG: you think im having a fun time with my bro??  
TG: did you forget that you were the one who so generously pointed out how he wasnt a cool ass dude  
TT: I’m sorry to hear that.  
TT: Has something gone awry? Perhaps a misplaced sword? A few dozen? A thousand?  
TT: Excuse my disingenuous tone, I do now recall your brother was, in short, quite the fucking pain in the ass.  
TT: Do you want to talk about it?  
TT: Or have my rude gestures turned you away.  
TG: theres nothing to talk bout  
TG: i slammed the motherfucker straight into the ground with my sick ass moves and claimed my position as the alpha cool dude  
TG: then proceeded to pack my shit and leave  
TG: and have since been crying in this weird abandoned park  
TG: did you see we have sick ass unlimited internet now  
TG: tell your mother i said fuck you for me  
TT: Dave, are you experiencing severe emotional turmoil right now?  
TT: Your speech patterns seem to be quite the fucking mess.  
TT: And it’s not that I mind telling her that, it’s that I mind you telling her that. But I’m sure she’d appreciate the hello.  
TT: You are her favorite son after all.  
TT: On the contrary, I do actually enjoy our newfound sick-ass unlimited internet.  
TT: It is, as I quote the hip kids, “pretty damn fly.”  
TT: Am I doing it, Dave? Am I being hip?  
TG: yes rose you are the hippest  
TG: you contain the maximum swag  
TG: all of the coolness  
TG: you are the sickest-nasty  
TG: its you rose  
TG: hey how long do you think it’d take to hitchhike down the where ever the fuck you are  
TG: dont you live in like the middle of buttfuck idaho  
TT: New York City, Dave.  
TT: You would have to hitch hike northeast at least roughly two thousand miles.  
TT: I hope you meet some nice truck stop hookers on the way, I heard they give out free candy and chapstick.  
TT: Now, are you done being a brick wall of solid, firm man meat?  
TT: Is that what you want me to say?  
TT: Is it fueling your ego, Dave? Is it tickling your fancy yet?  
TT: My apologies, I got a little steamy there for a moment.  
TG: candy and chapstick?  
TG: sign me the fuck up all they give out here is stds and lollipops  
TG: not that i dont like lollipops  
TG: just not the stds  
TG: last time i checked thats why my dick fell off the first time  
TG: id let you tickle my fancy if you wanted  
TT: The first time?  
TT: Are you insinuating that it grew back? Like how a baby tooth falls out and a dominant tooth grows in its place?  
TT: Did your dick evolve, Dave? Do we have some straight-up Pokémon sci-fi kind of shit going on here?  
TT: However, though our destinies may have retracted some odd three years, I’m glad to hear, or read rather, that you haven’t lost your straightforward charm.  
TT: I’m absolutely swooning at the thought of tickling your fanciest parts.  
TG: yes the game gave me a fully functional dick  
TG: believe me i checked  
TG: a few times  
TG: yes my dick is a pokemon wanna help me catch it  
TG: you should be swooning  
TG: ill be a pokemon and you can be ass catchem  
TT: I believe you mean Ass Catchcum.  
TT: See what I did there?  
TT: I made a pun. A joke. A quip. About anal sex, Dave. Anal sex.  
TT: Alright, as much as I enjoy your retractable dick, I’d like to get down to business here.  
TT: Mulan style.  
TT: Did your brother hurt you?  
TG: is the business my ass  
TG: because im down for that  
TG: no he didnt  
TG: as i said earlier and i quote  
TG: “ i slammed the motherfucker straight into the ground with my sick ass moves and claimed my position as the alpha cool dude”  
TG: did you just  
TG: not see that part of this conversation my dear ecto-sis  
TT: As much as I love you and respect you, dear ecto-bro, we both know there’s more to it than that.  
TT: What was that, you said earlier?  
TT: “and have since been crying in this weird abandoned park”?  
TT: Oh, I’m sorry, it seems I obviously did not miss that part of our conversation.  
TT: I would appreciate if you could perhaps shed some light on how you got some “dope” dust in your eye, or something of that sort.  
TT: Pardon, I believe that’s a drug. Some significantly less “dope” dust, then.  
TG: oh  
TG: that  
TG: i mean arent you the seer of light or some shit  
TG: i thought seeing light was your job  
TG: anyways i was sobbing over the loss of my gorgeous man meat  
TG: it was sweet rose  
TG: i was grieving  
TT: I can say that’s fair.  
TT: For I, too, have been grieving my plump lady lips that I have lost.  
TT: My second pair, I mean.  
TT: In any case, we both know that’s not the whole puzzle.  
TT: Tell me about it, Dave. Unleash your feelings.  
TG: my sweet ecto-incestial feelings  
TG: or the john ones  
TG: or maybe the jade ones  
TG: damn she has a sweet ass  
TT: Damn straight is right, sweet as sugar.  
TT: But that’s not what we’re here to talk about.  
TT: I know you’re avoiding it.  
TT: I’ve accepted that.  
TT: Now, if you could accept it too, that’d be unrealistically fantastic.  
TG: what do you want to hear about then rosey  
TG: youve gotta be straight with me  
TG: oh wait  
TT: Haha, yes. Heehee. The joke is that I am undeniably queer.  
TT: In any case, that isn’t the point here.  
TT: Do you want it to be the way it was before?  
TT: During the game?  
TT: Without all of this still here? Is this not enough for you?  
TG: i want to mean something rose  
TG: at least in the game i was someone  
TG: i was the knight of time  
TG: and it was my job to protect the heir witch and seer  
TG: and now im nothing  
TG: im back at the bottom of the hole and theres no way for me to climb back out  
TT: You still mean something.  
TT: If anything, you mean more now than you ever did in the game.  
TT: The game was a fabrication.  
TT: Needless details and a bunch of bullshit specifically created to overexert our poor, dysphoric preteen bodies.  
TT: I’m not saying this universe is better.  
TT: But this universe is real.  
TT: And it’s where we are now.  
TG: i dont know what you want from me rose  
TG: i just dont know  
TT: I just don’t want you to get caught up in something that can’t be changed.  
TT: We won. It’s over.  
TT: I’m not saying that change is unobtainable, but change is different now.  
TT: Everything is different now.  
TG: i cant go back there rose  
TG: i cant pretend im alright  
TG: im back to being the dysphoric thirteen year old i once was  
TG: im back at the point where i thought i was nothing that i would never amount to anything  
TG: this is the point in my life where i thought self deprecating humor was the way to go and that if i was an asshole people would leave me alone  
TG: i guess im just saying i dont want to go backwards anymore  
TT: Then don’t.  
TT: Only you had that power.  
TT: But that power doesn’t exist anymore, like I’ve said prior, everything is different now.  
TT: There’s no backwards. No drawing ourselves in circles that amount to nothing. No more restarts. No more roadblocks.  
TT: There’s only one way to go, because this isn’t SBURB, and that’s forwards.  
TG: hey rose?  
TT: Yes, Dave?  
TG: if theres no more going backwards  
TG: i wanna go forward in a better environment  
TG: can i come stay with you  
TT: Dave.  
TT: You already know the answer to that, obviously.  
TG: thank you  
TG: ok so  
TG: how should i get down there  
TG: or up there i cant remember  
TG: i probably cant hitchhike very well as a thirteen year old  
TT: It’s Northeast.  
TT: And that’s elementary, my dear Dave.  
TT: You won’t come to me, I’ll come get you.  
TG: ok  
TG: that sounds good  
TG: how are you gonna do that  
TG: because im sleeping in an abandonded park tonight  
TT: My mother owns a car.  
TT: I’m sure my experience with zipping around LOLAR will come in handy. Flying and driving are practically the same thing, said a wise man once, probably.  
TT: Find a warm bench. I’ll be there by 1:15 in the afternoon, on the next overmorrow.  
TG: Can do sis  
TG: hey  
TG: bring me some food too  
TT: Chinese or Thai?  
TG: thai  
TG: love you  
TT: I love you too.  
TT: Try not to get mugged. Or shouted at by conservatives for loitering.  
TG: ill try  
TG: safe driving  
TT: I’m thirteen, Dave. I’ve got this under wraps. Farewell.

tentacleTherapist [TT] ceased pestering  turntechGodhead [TG]

You find yourself smiling. Maybe this won't be as bad as you thought 


	2. gone with the wind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You find this whole situation entirely ironic, during the game you were the protector, you fought to save your friends, but here you are now. Entirely defenseless and awaiting rescue.

==> Your name is Dave Strider and you feel like an idiot.

You failed to notice the damn cash stashed into your sylladex, and once you pull it out you realise you have made a grave mistake. Now you realise it wasn’t called ‘fat stack of cash’ for no reason. There is literally a pile of goddamn money in front of you and you’re unsure of how to deal with it.

Just after you finished talking to Rose, you realised that realistically sleeping in the park wasn’t your best bet, considering that it’s barely midday and you don’t have any blankets. That’s when you’d discovered this motherlode of cash that at first glance you’d brushed off as a few bucks, considering that’s all you’d normally have, but no. You have a fuck load of cash and Rose won’t be here to pick you up for at least a day.

You decide that with a small amount of this sick cash, you’ll rent a hotel room so you can at least shower and hopefully avoid your brother if he decides to try and find you for any reason. You leave John and Jades messages, they can wait a little longer, plus you don’t even know if they’re still awake, they probably are, but damn you’re not sure.

Instead, you grabbed a small amount of the money from the pile and shoved it into your pocket messily before putting the rest of the pile back into your sylladex. You shoved your laptop back into it as well, since you sure as hell weren’t going to carry it.

You tried not to think too much, because if you stopped to think, you’d explode. If you kept busy, you could keep the metaphorical cap on the bottle, and keep your obviously faked cool. You could do it; you could keep your cool until Rose came to save your ass. You are the princess hidden in the tower and Rose is your knight in shining armour, coming to save your ass from the dragon, or in your case the mess you call your emotions and your brother.

You find this whole situation entirely ironic, during the game you were the protector, you fought to save your friends, but here you are now. Entirely defenseless and awaiting rescue. You wonder if Dirk is anywhere in the city, maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. You never did find out if you lived in the same apartment building, or if they were just built the same.

Before you knew it, you were out of the park and had no idea how you got there. It wasn’t worrying, you’d been doing it for years before the game, zoning out and losing touch with reality, you’d done it in the game as well.

There was plenty of shady hotels in Huston, more than enough that would take a wad of cash from a thirteen year old for a room. It was just trying to find one that was both far enough away from the apartment, and that was just respectable enough that you knew you wouldn’t be mugged almost immediately.

You weren’t sure how Rose was going to get here, but you didn’t doubt her. Doubting Rose was like asking someone to knee you in the nuts at light speed and expecting it not to hurt. It was stupid and resulted in nothing good for either party.

You were starting to falter in your steps. You needed to stop thinking and find somewhere to rest, because you weren’t sure how much you’d actually slept in the past four years, but you doubt that it was much overall.

A good half an hour later, you’d secured a room, at the cost of about half the cash in your pocket, and grabbed a meal from the closest fast food joint. It hadn’t been much but it’d been enough to subdue the gnawing pain in your stomach, and would hopefully be enough until you’d slept.

The worst thing about resting, was that your mind wasn’t at full speed, and you never got a break. So you decided to stop delaying the inevitable and bite the bullet.

 

turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering  gardenGnostic [GG]  
TG: sup  
TG: i am alive  
TG: well i mean kinda  
TG: alive enough i suppose  
TG: im glad you have your dog from hell back  
TG: you know  
TG: the dog that got fused with jack noir and tried to kill us time and time again  
TG: i guess bygones should be bygones though  
TG: so yes  
TG: im glad your happy  
TG: see yah 

turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering  gardenGnostic [GG]

 

You’re kind of glad that she didn’t have time to respond before you’d stopped messaging her, because you didn’t want to end up upsetting her, or making her angry with you. It was never a fun time.

Laying down on the bed, you kicked off your worn out shoes, and rested you head on the pillow. It wasn’t even midday yet, but you were exhausted.

Suddenly, you could hear things you hadn’t heard before, the shallow ticking of the clock on the wall as it counted off the seconds slowly, the slight breeze coming from the air conditioner in the room on your left, the baby crying down the hall. All of these were familiar sounds, and they comforted you.

Then suddenly, it was all ripped away from you. You were plunged back into the red and black land of screeching gears and silence. You were scared and it was so loud. You couldn’t hear yourself think. Images started flashing past your eyes, images of John, Rose and Jade. Images of yourself, of davesprite.

Then suddenly the images stopped and you were back in front of the body of your dead brother, but it wasn’t the same. There was this foreign energy bubbling up in your throat and you were screeching. Singing a song you didn’t know the words too.

Then it stopped, and you exploded. Screeching filled the silence and you felt rage like you’d never felt before. Bloodlust like you’d never felt before. You were filled with the desire for death, to kill for revenge. You were a monster, blackened skin and pure red eyes.

You continued to sing the song of the gods as you ripped your friends apart. They tried to stop you, but you revelled in their screams and their cries. You laughed, but all that came out was black sludge and screeches. The smell of sea salt was permeable in the air. Your gods had given you a task, and you would complete it if it killed you.

You awoke screaming.

Terror ripped through your body and your breath moving much too fast for your body.

You could not calm down.

Your name is Dave Strider, and you had a feeling it was going to be a very long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the short chapter! just wasnt feeling very dave-y today! 
> 
> im also working on a playlist for this story, so yeah!
> 
> any questions about the verse or its characters? message me on tumblr (vodkaaunttylah) and ill be happy to talk to you about it!
> 
> (Also looking for a jade!!! im an okish dave, my friend is a rose/John but neither of us fully understand jade, so yeah!! Please do hit me up of you can do a good jade)


End file.
